Menu

Enjoying Tyria – a few tips for the Guild Wars 2 Trial Weekend

It’s always good to have plans for the weekend, especially if it includes playing a great game like Guild Wars 2 totally for free. I mean, that’s what everyone will do coming weekend, right? Right?

Anyway, in case you have your priorities straight and will venture into Tyria without paying a single dime, let me help you out with a few pointers. See it as a “from one newb to another newb” kind of help!

Go and venture forth. GW2 does not have a questlog or other tool that tracks your tasks. The closest thing to a checklist in this game are the daily, monthly and various other achievements. Next to those, you’ll find adventure and action no matter into which direction you travel. No matter if you decide to complete renown hearts, conquer Skill Challenges or wait for that one special Event to be triggered, you will have something to experience no matter where you go and where you are. GW2 is meant to be played like an expedition: point at a place on your map, but have the journey to that spot be the actual adventure.

Help others. In GW2, there’s no such thing as mob tagging or “stealing” resource nodes. If you see someone’s fighting a big pull of mobs, go out and help them a hand. Both of you will receive XP, and you might even make a friend in the process. Also, just go out and mine that vein or pluck that herb. You won’t steal it from anyone, since all resource nodes can be farmed by multiple people.

Everything grants XP. Killing monsters? Of course, that earns you XP. Exploring the map? That’s also a source of XP. Resurrecting NPC’s and other players? Yes, that will also net you XP! Turning your gathered resources into crafted items? Indeed, you’ll also get a chunk of XP from that. No matter which way you prefer to play, GW2 will somehow reward you with XP for it. Let me tell you, it feels kinda awesome when resurrecting a bunch of fellow players during an epic Champion encounter is what makes you ding. It’s rewarding, and in the spirit of the cooperative gameplay GW2 is going for.

Help your lowbie friends. Since GW2 uses level scaling, you’ll never outlevel a zone. You can just join up with your friends who are late to the party and help them out. You’ll get XP and loot appropriate for your actual level, all while doing what you want to do in an MMORPG: playing together with friends.

And finally…have fun. No seriously. Just have fun, okay?

If you decide to drop by on the European Piken Square server coming weekend, keep an eye out for the Charr Elementalist Akinja. He’d be more than willing to show you the ropes.